Investment in New Zealand
Question:-
I’m reaching out today with regard to a financial programme that has been shared around by many people here in New Zealand.
There have been a few workshops and it has been advertised in a way to buy your first house without paying Riba.
The manner in which it works is, you put your money in and see compounding bonuses of the amount you put in; the more you put, in the more you get back. The people who invest don’t have to do anything and will see a 300% return within a few months.
It has been endorsed/certified by Mufti Ismail Desai, chairman of the Shariah Supervisory Board.
Certified on 23/01/2022 – XSS/23949/ASP
Product is called: Validus Shariah Product
Global Islamic Financial Services
It’s been backed by scholars in Australia and also, Pakistan.
The issue from my side is, that the same team behind this programme ie. Validus, was behind Au Lives and One Coin, which ended up being a typical Ponzi Scheme.
Is there any way to get clarification around this, and should Muslims should be investing in something like this?
One of Validus’s Website: https://validus-team-official.com/
Details of how the returns work: https://validus-team-official.com/validus-compensation-plan/
What I saw after jumping into one of these webinars and then after looking into it online:
One Coin Scam: https://behindmlm.com/mlm-reviews/aulives-review-sgc-ponzi-points-onecoin-clone/
Au Lives Scam and being absorbed by Validus: https://behindmlm.com/mlm-reviews/validus-review-dubai-crypto-ponzi-gobbles-up-aulives/
Answer:-
The investment is not permissible. Investors receive interest on their investment on a weekly basis, which is Haraam. In fact, the website advertising the investment clearly states, “2.5% weekly gain on your investment i.e. 0.5% every day for the 5 working days of the week, paid every Monday in compound interest.”
Secondly, we do not approve of binary trading.
Thirdly, for every new client that joins the investment, the previous investors receive a 1% commission (if they have invested in excess of $5000) which is, again, not permissible. This is similar to the current day pyramid schemes which we do not approve of. We, therefore, advise abstention from the aforementioned investment scheme.
These are just some of the flaws that we have discovered by casting a cursory glance at the investment company’s website, and we are certain that are many more aspects that are against Shariah as well. Many investment schemes have failed and collapsed in the recent past hence, we advise the Muslim public to exercise caution.
ALLAH TA’ALA KNOWS BEST!
ANSWERED BY:
Mufti Mohammed Desai
Date: 14 Muharram 1444 / 13 August 2022